


Put Your Lips On Mine And Love The Aftertaste

by Uglysweater



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Cabeswater shenanigans, Christmas, First Kiss, M/M, i love kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 19:35:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5468435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uglysweater/pseuds/Uglysweater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hey what if Cabeswater loved the winter holiday season and decided to decorate?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Put Your Lips On Mine And Love The Aftertaste

**Author's Note:**

> Mistletoe? More like MistleNo! 
> 
> hahah I'm so funny

"And! You know what’s really fucking stupid?!" Ronan was already ten minutes deep into another monologue about the downfall of society brought on by Santa Claus. Adam kept pace with him as Ronan gestured wildly. The five of them were headed to Cabeswater for the rest of the afternoon. It was early in December, not below freezing yet, but Adam was regretting not grabbing something warmer than just a hooded sweatshirt. 

"I thought you'd be more excited about oncoming chaos, Lynch." Blue shouted from a few feet back. Adam heard Gansey unsubtly disguise a laugh as a cough from somewhere behind them. 

"I don't like chaos brought about by a capitalist pig in a red suite." 

"You only like chaos if you're starting it." Noah pointed out. Ronan lunged at him. Noah cackled and ran off and Ronan chased him. It left Adam in a weird inbetween space, walking midway between Ronan and Noah running further into the woods and Gansey and Blue talking behind him. Adam thought about falling back to meet up with the two behind him, no way was he running ahead, but a glance over his shoulder at their close conversation discouraged the idea. 

Adam sighed and pulled his sweatshirt closer to his ears. 

A little further up Ronan stood waiting for them with his arms crossed. "New rule. Disappearing if you're a ghost in a fight is cheating."

Adam shrugged, "Why are you telling me? I'm not a ghost." 

"I'm telling everyone," Ronan said, turning and falling in step with Adam, "In case any of our circumstances change."

Adam rolled his eyes. Ronan dove right back into his tearing apart of Christmas as a corporate holiday. 

"And the whole fucking red cup thing, I can't believe th-" Ronan cut himself off. He stopped walking and talking so abruptly Adam nearly bumped into him. 

Adam looked around. They had passed the unofficial border to Cabeswater a few steps back. Blue and Gansey were still trailing them by a few yards. Everything looked fine, everyone looked fine. 

"Oh shit." Noah said. Adam glanced over to his left where Noah had re-appeared but the other boy was looking straight up. 

Adam followed his eyeline up to the trees. Intermingled with the leaves and branches were clusters of another plant. The clusters were all over the place and continued further into Cabeswater. It looked almost like holly, but the leaves weren’t as jagged and the berries were white not red. Adam squinted up at them. They looked familiar, He'd seen the plant before but he couldn't place where or when. "What the hell is that stuff?" 

"Mistletoe," Ronan said, and Adam's stomach bottomed out. 

Adam spun around to face the pair behind them and shouted, "Blue, stop!"

She froze, eyes wide. She looked up and took a step back. Adam didn't know what Cabeswater had planned with the mistletoe but it probably was not just innocent holiday party decorations for the forest. 

Blue and Gansey had not yet crossed over the threshold and into Cabeswater's control, still safe from whatever the woods intended to do with the mistletoe. They stayed put and Ronan strode toward them. He stopped short again, only making it a step or two. Adam couldn't see his face, but his shoulders were tight with tension where he stood. 

"What's going on?" Gansey asked. 

"I can't move," Ronan said. He picked up his foot again, but couldn't take the step. 

Adam and Noah shared a look, then Noah looked back up at the trees. "You're, uh." He started, then stepped away from Adam. He continued backing up, towards Blue and Gansey. Noah kept his eyes on the trees until he passed Ronan. He paused for a moment in line with the other boys shoulder but a carefully calculated distance away. Noah winced at the look on Ronan's face, the expression Adam couldn't see. Noah reached out to Ronan, but hesitated. He glanced up at the clusters in the trees again and pulled his hand back. 

"Sorry," He said, and then ran back to Blue's side. 

"Wait, hey." Ronan called after him. He tried to follow Noah, but again he didn't seem able to step forward. 

"I think you're trapped." Gansey told him. 

"Thank you, captain fucking obvious," Ronan grumbled and turned to look at Adam. 

"Why is he stuck and Noah and I aren't?" Adam asked. 

Blue looked up at the branches above him and shook her head, "I think. I think you're stuck too, Adam." 

"No, I'm-" Adam said, walking towards her. He stopped. Or something stopped him. Adam met no resistance, it didn't feel like hitting a wall, but he couldn't continue forward. He looked up. The cluster of leaves and berries was thick and wide. It was tangled up in the branches above him and spread a few feet over, just above Ronan. 

"No." Ronan said simply. 

"I don't like this," Gansey said, and Ronan threw him a sharp look. Gansey, visibly flustered, started over, "No I mean. I don't like the situation. Nothing about you. Or, uh, who you kiss. I'm not. Adam! Adam, is there anything you can do? To get it to go away?" 

Adam shrugged and knelt down. He could feel the line thrumming underneath his outstretched hand. He closed his eyes and the line responded with a charging warmth that spread up his arm. Adam tried searching for a reason for the new growth, but found none. He opened his thoughts and asked Cabeswater what they would need to do to get out. 

Cabeswater showed him.

Vividly. 

Adam clenched his hand tight, closing the connection, and opened his eyes. 

"The only way out," He looked at Ronan, "Is the traditional way." 

Ronan shook his head violently, "No.”

Adam stood and turned to the rest of them standing in the long grass before Cabeswater. Noah's eyes were wide and Blue had a hand covering her mouth. Gansey was looking at his own shoes and running his fingers through his hair. 

"Ronan," Adam said and Ronan closed his eyes. "I'm not doing that." He told Adam. 

"You can't just not," Blue shouted at them, "You wanna be stuck in there?"

Ronan shook his head again, keeping his eyes closed, "I'm not doing that." 

"You sound like a toddler," Blue told him. 

"Come on," Adam sighed, "Let's just get this over with." 

Roman groaned and threw his head back. He began shouting an impressive stream of curses and expletives up to the branches hanging above them. A strong gust blew around them, interrupting Ronan's shouting. Adam stumbled forward. 

When the breeze died down Adam tried to step back to his original distance from Ronan, but he couldn't. No resistance, his muscles just refused to move him in that direction. Behind Ronan was an indent in the dirt where he had been standing a moment before. He had moved forward too. 

Adam didn't get it. It was the big, unspoken, unacknowledged thing between them but Adam was under the impression that this was the sort of thing Ronan wanted. Adam didn’t really know what it was supposed to look like when someone wanted to kiss you but he thought he'd seen something in the way Ronan looked at him. 

Except now. Now that the opportunity was in front of him. Now Ronan just looked pissed off and vaguely nauseous that Adam was stuck here with him. 

Ronan turned half away from him and shouted back to the others, "Get the fuck out of here!"

"Where are we supposed to go?" Noah shouted back. 

"Back to the fucking Pig, I don't know, up a tree, wherever. Anywhere that's not here." 

Blue reached out to take Noah's hand. Adam saw her say something to Gansey, but they were a little too far away to make out what she said. Gansey turned to leave and Blue tugged at Noah's hand until he followed. They walked back towards where they’d left the car, and a large raspberry bush blocked them from Adam's sight almost as soon as they turned away. 

Ronan took a deep breath and ran his hand over his head. "I should be used to things not being fair, but this really isn't fucking fair." 

Clarity washed over Adam then. He hadn't read Ronan wrong, he hadn't misinterpreted anything. Adam could relate to the revulsion of having what you want simply handed to you. It would never feel earned. 

"It's okay," Adam told him. 

Ronan scoffed, "Fuck you, Parrish."

Adam rolled his eyes, "Yeah, because fighting with me is really helping the situation." 

Ronan was looking at him. He still looked like he was either going to puke or punch Adam, but he was looking. Adam wasn't sure how he was supposed to look at someone he was about to kiss, but looking at Ronan’s mouth seemed a good a place as any. 

Ronan licked his lips as Adam's eyes settled on them. Adam swallowed thickly. How was he supposed to look at the lips he was supposed to kiss? Analytically? Like they where art? Was he supposed to look at lips he had to kiss in a different way than he looked at lips he wanted to kiss. Adam's face felt hot and air wasn't coming into his lungs right.

"Shit, Parrish,” Ronan said. Adam knew Ronan said it because he was focused on Ronan's lips, “Adam, I-”

"Shut up" Adam said and then he kissed Ronan. He simply stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and kissed him. 

Adam's heart was thudding somewhere in his chest when it took Ronan a moment to respond. Then Ronan surged forward.

Adam’s back hit the tree behind him with such force that he bit his own lip. Or maybe Ronan bit his lip. He might have bitten Ronan’s bottom lip. They were still attached at the lips, and it wasn't enough. 

Ronan’s mouth was hot and open against Adam’s, also open. Distantly, Adam thought it should be weird having someone else breathing into your mouth, but it wasn't. Ronan kissed him like he wanted to crawl inside Adam and live there, like he wanted to be there. Ronan tilted his head and his chin bumped against Adam, and Adam wanted to be there too. 

A breeze rolled through the leaves above them. The breeze continued but the rustling changed tone. There were less leaves suddenly. Adam knew the mistletoe had disappeared or crept back into whatever part of Cabeswater made it. 

“It's gone,” Adam panted into Ronan’s mouth, before kissing him again, “We can. We can stop if you want.” 

Ronan leaned back, just enough to look up. Adam’s eyes tracked upward to the trees. The mistletoe was gone. Ronan stepped away and Adam looked back down at him. 

Adam could see Ronan’s chest rise and fall with each short shallow breath. His lips were swollen and his eyes were darker than Adam had ever noticed before. Ronan opened his mouth, as if to say something, but he closed it again after a moment. Adam straightened against the tree. 

They were silent. Adam wasn't really sure what they were supposed to do next. The problem was fixed, they were free to move, but moving would mean breaking eye contact with Ronan. 

“Fuck it,” Ronan said, breaking the silence, “Are you going to take a swing at me if I do that again?” Adam shook his head. Ronan stepped back into his space and they were kissing. Kissing again. 

Ronan’s fingers were tangled up in Adam’s hair. Earlier that week Adam had been wondering how he was going to scrape together a bit of his paycheck to afford a haircut, but with the way Ronan was tugging lightly, Adam might leave it at this length a little while longer. They were pressed together from toe to nose and Adam held Ronan in place by gripping his hips. 

Adam let one hand slide north, up under Ronan’s shirt, to touch the soft, warm skin there. The feel of Ronan, his lips, his skin, keeping Adam in the moment like a tether. Something like a whimper escaped Ronan’s lips when Adam rubbed his thumb over the other boy’s ribs. There was warm pressure at his lips, velvet under his fingertips, and Adam was nearly dizzy at the sensation. He sighed. 

Neither Adam nor Ronan pulled away, but the chaos of the kiss quieted. Adam found himself smiling against Ronan’s lips. He tilted his head so their mouths were apart but their foreheads were resting against one another. Adam tried to look up at Ronan, but his eyes crossed at the close range. Ronan brushed their noses together. 

There was rustling in the bushes somewhere to Adam’s left. He heard Blue's voice just before she rounded the corner. 

“They've got to be done by now. It's freezing.” 

Ronan smirked and turned toward the three other coming back into view. His hips pressed into Adam’s as he leaned and Adam tried not to do anything embarrassing. “It's not our fault you can't afford gloves with fingers,” said Ronan. 

Blue held up a single gloveless finger in response. Adam couldn't help it, he laughed. He felt wild. He buried the laughter in Ronan’s shoulder. After a moment Adam slid out from between Ronan and the tree.

“Keep going?” He asked and the boy beside him went red in the face. Adam clarified, “Through Cabeswater. Keep going through Cabeswater.” 

“As opposed to keep going with whatever you were doing,” Noah said, appearing next to them. 

“I don't know,” Gansey said, following behind Blue with his arms akimbo, “Dare we risk it?” 

Blue shrugged and nodded, Ronan grinned wickedly, and Noah had already started walking backwards further into the woods. 

“Might as well,” said Adam. He brushed against Ronan as he turned to follow the others.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi I'm at corvidyouths dot tumblr dot com


End file.
